1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a racing game apparatus for simulating and playing a variety of races such as horse race, bicycle races, athletic track races, car races, motorcycle races, etc., on a game board which resembles a track.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there have been known racing game apparatus having moving objects resembling racehorses, bicycles, athletes, cars, motorcycles, boats, etc. which run along respective courses on a track-shaped game board to compete for higher ranks under the control of a computer. Game players who participate in racing games played on those racing game apparatus bet points or medals on favorite moving objects. The racing game apparatus are required to be highly analogous to actual races such as horse races so that the game players can play racing games in a virtual-reality environment.
Actual races may be performed on differently arranged race courses. For example, bicycle races are carried out on a plurality of circuits, and bicycle racers compete for series championship based on the results of all the bicycle races. Horse race courses are basically in the form of an oval track. However, in order to provide different race varieties in view of different racehorse characteristics, each of horse races, particularly highly prized horse races, has its own track length (length along the major longitudinal axis), start and goal positions (and hence a combination of straight courses and corners), track condition (turf or dirt), number of times that the track is to be circled (i.e., the total length of the courses), and the direction in which to circle the track (clockwise or counterclockwise). Furthermore, athletic track races are performed for 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m on the same track, and therefore use different track portions, i.e., start and goal positions, on the track.
The racing game apparatus which have been developed and put to use so far have only one race course established on the game board and fixed start and goal positions on the race course. Therefore, it has been impossible with the conventional racing game apparatus to arrange a plurality of different race courses similar to actual race courses.
It may be possible to simply establish a plurality of race courses parallel to each other on a game board or cross and overlap a plurality of race courses on a game board. However, such simply added race courses would make the racing game apparatus too large in scale and too complex, and prevent the racing game apparatus from being installed in a limited space such as a game arcade.